Several Socorro City Council members spent more than $10,000 from the mayor's discretionary fund in less than a month on seminars, hotels, gas mileage and other things -- expenditures that are making one council member furious.

City Rep. Maria Reyes said she was not surprised the other council members spent the money and said they are taking advantage of the situation. Reyes said she is angry because she did not get $10,000 to spend on her district, while the mayor's money is being spent recklessly.

"What they have done is unethical, unprofessional and mean-spirited," she said.

From October 2010 to July 2011, Socorro council members spent nearly $50,000 in discretionary funds, including $10,272 from the mayor's fund.

According to city documents, city Rep. Jesse Gandara Jr. and Socorro police Sgt. Refugio Orta attended a seminar with the Texas Municipal Human Resources Association in June and they stayed at a Hyatt Place Hotel in Austin.

Earlier that month, Gandara and Orta attended another seminar with the Texas Municipal Clerks Association. It is unclear where that seminar took place, but during June 9-10, each of them spent $250 on hotels and $366 on gasoline.

In total, Gandara and Orta spent more than $4,000 from the mayor's discretionary fund on the seminars.

When the money was spent, Gandara was mayor pro tem because his uncle, former Socorro Mayor Guillermo "Willie" Gandara Sr., had been recalled on May 14.

Former Mayor Gandara said he did not spend anything from his discretionary funds while in office for a year.

David Garcia, a city spokesman, said the trips made by Jesse Gandara and Orta were approved by the City Council.

"As a police sergeant, Sgt. Orta is involved with human resources, as is Councilman Gandara. And both are involved in city liability and both are responsible for limiting that liability as much as they are trained," Garcia wrote in a letter to the El Paso Times.

Out of the mayor's discretionary fund, city officials, whose names are not specified on documents, also paid for conferences, hotels and gas mileage reimbursement for other police officers, a business trip to Austin for city Rep. Mary Garcia and a $139.98 coffee maker.

Former Socorro police consultant Al Patiño said Jesse Gandara is trying to improve Orta's image by providing him training and education.

Jesse Gandara and Orta are close friends, Patiño said.

Orta is now facing allegations of sexual harassment and official oppression by two city employees.

Patiño said that by providing Orta and himself with training and education, Gandara is trying "to overcome the fact that Orta is only a basic peace officer."

Reyes has spoken out against spending the mayor's discretionary money and her district's money.

Reyes said her district's discretionary funds were given to at-large city Rep. Guillermo "Willie" Madrid before a special election in May in which Reyes was elected to the council. The election was to recall former Mayor Gandara and to fill the seat of former city Rep. Luis Varela, who resigned after he was arrested on drug charges. He pleaded guilty in April.

Reyes was elected to fill Varela's seat.

Before the May election, Madrid used $3,000 from District 1's discretionary funds to pay for political fliers, Reyes said. Several attempts to reach Madrid for comment were not successful.

According to city documents, about $4,600 from the District 1 discretionary fund went to pay for fliers and postage fees, while $3,700 was used for the Easter Egg Hunt Festival in April.

Reyes said even after she took office in May, the City Council refused to give her the funds because they had already been transferred to Madrid. About $16,100 has been spent from the at-large and Reyes' district discretionary funds.

"I had plans for that money. I was going to have cleanups in my area, I was going to have a newsletter and community organizations meetings, and I was going to address people's requests on speed bumps," she said.

"That money belonged to my district, my constituents," she said.

Reyes also said the mayor's discretionary fund should have been left untouched for the incoming mayor, who will be elected in November.

"Discretionary funds are assigned to specific positions. Why aren't they using their money? If they want to go to training, they have to pay for it out of their discretionary funds," Reyes said.

David Garcia said Madrid received Reyes' discretionary fund money because Reyes' seat was vacant and the at-large city representative became responsible for representing the people in Reyes' district.

Jesse Gandara, who represents District 4, has spent most of his discretionary funds on video cameras, an Apple iPad, flashlights for police officers, computers, printers and $640 on "fireworks support activities."

David Garcia said the money was used "for the expense of explaining to citizens that while we have an ordinance banning the private use of fireworks, the sale of fireworks in Socorro is a legal industry."

Gandara bought a $1,179 laptop computer in March for a police consultant, which was later used by Socorro officials, and an $800 iPad used to help design the Socorro city website.

City Rep. Gloria Rodriguez, who represents District 2, spent more than $3,500 from her discretionary fund on work boots for city employees, shirts, a Foosball table, $140 on fliers and $300 for the Mission Valley Chili War of 2010.

While Madrid spent more than $1,000 in fliers promoting city activities such as a driveway construction project, he also contributed to the Mission Valley Chili War in 2010 and used $106 for flashlights for police officers.

The discretionary fund system used in Socorro is similar to one used in El Paso.

Council members in El Paso also get $10,000 in discretionary funds even though the city's budget is considerably larger than Socorro's.

El Paso City Manager Joyce Wilson said discretionary funds can be used for a variety of purposes such as business travel, operating expenses, recreation programs, public projects and supporting nonprofit activities like a community parade.

Wilson said it is unusual for a City Council member to pay for a police officer's training. She said the Police Department usually pays for training trips.

According to Socorro's city budget, of the $2.2 million Socorro police budget, $3,000 was allocated for officers' training and education -- $2,000 for seminars and $1,000 for travel and mileage expenses.

The city of El Paso's general fund budget is more than $300 million, compared with $15 million for Socorro.

Former Socorro city Rep. Sergio Cox said he introduced the idea of setting a discretionary fund for each council member in Socorro, including the mayor, in 2006. He said he followed the system used in El Paso.

Cox said that at the time discretionary funds were approved by council, members never set guidelines or bylaws on how the money was supposed to be spent. He said the understanding was to use discretionary funds for public purposes.

"The concept was to have each council member, including the mayor, to have $10,000 budgeted into their name to be spent at their discretion," Cox said.

He said council members in the past have used discretionary funds to pave streets and install streetlights.

Cox, who was city representative at-large from 2006 to 2010, said he spent some of his discretionary funds to install streetlights and to attend conferences in Austin.

He said City Council members can take money from other districts because they are the ones who "approve the money in the first place."

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